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Station Area Planning
Andrew Gillett
Project Manager
612-348-4949
Denise Engen
Community Engagement
612-348-4454
LRT
Brent Rusco
Bottineau LRT Project Manager
612-543-0579
The METRO Blue Line extension (Bottineau LRT) line is a proposed 13-mile light rail transit corridor that will connect north Minneapolis, Golden Valley, Robbinsdale, Crystal, and Brooklyn Park to downtown Minneapolis and our region’s transitway system. The Bottineau LRT line will have up to 11 stations.
Through the Bottineau LRT Community Works Program, Hennepin County, in partnership the corridor cities, the Metropolitan Council and others, supports efforts to realize the communities’ visions for transportation access, transit-oriented development, economic opportunity, community health and improved quality of life in the corridor.
Learn more at www.bottineautransitway.org
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The Bottineau Transitway Draft Environmental Impact Statement (Draft EIS) is still open for public review and comment. Printed copies of the Draft EIS are available at city halls and libraries along the line. Comments will be accepted through midnight on May 29, 2014 in several ways:
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Speak in person at a public hearing (see below).
- Fill out a comment form and submit by email to bottineau@co.hennepin.mn.us.
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Send a comment form (also available at the public hearings/open houses, city halls and libraries) by mail to:
Hennepin County, Housing, Community Works & Transit
Attn: Bottineau Transitway
701 Fourth Avenue S, Suite 400
Minneapolis, MN 55415.
The main purpose of the Bottineau Transitway Draft EIS is to assist decision-makers in assessing the impacts of the transitway project. Your comments will:
- Help local agencies make informed decisions that may reduce the potential for serious unintended environmental impacts
- Provide information to decision-makers that might not be available through other sources.
- Ensure decision-makers are identifying and analyzing impacts and values that are important to you and others.
- Provide a better understanding of public perception and concerns about the project.
- Result in a better project.
Check out these helpful tools for more information: Guide to the Draft EIS and Guide to Commenting on the Draft EIS.
One of the ways you can offer comments on the Bottineau Transitway Draft Environmental Impact Statement (Draft EIS) is by attending a formal public hearing. At the hearing you may choose to speak in person and/or submit written comments. An open house will be held before each hearing where you can review the document, view map displays and ask questions about the project.
Two public hearings were held last week (in Minneapolis and Golden Valley). The remaining two public hearings will be held this week:
Tuesday, May 13, 2014: Brooklyn Park City Hall
5200 85th Ave. N., Brooklyn Park, MN 55443
4:30 – 5:30 p.m. Public Open House
5:30 p.m. Formal Public Hearing
Wednesday, May 14, 2014: Crystal Community Center
4800 Douglas Drive, Crystal, MN 55429
5:00 – 6:00 p.m. Public Open House
6:00 p.m. Formal Public Hearing
The temperature is not the only thing that will be heating up in the Bottineau corridor this summer. Planning activity for several stations on the Bottineau LRT line is also getting energized. Minneapolis and Golden Valley residents can expect to participate in land use planning for the four southernmost stations on the LRT line. These are the two proposed stations along Highway 55 at Van White Boulevard and Penn Avenue, the station at Plymouth Avenue and the station at Golden Valley Road.
This first phase of station area planning is a collaborative effort by Hennepin County, the City of Minneapolis and the City of Golden Valley, along with the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board and the Metropolitan Council. This planning process is expected to be completed by the end of March 2015.
Station area planning for the proposed stations in Robbinsdale, Crystal and Brooklyn Park is expected to begin in the fall of 2014 and be completed in April 2016.
Part of the process of developing light rail is to look at how stations proposed by rail planners will fit into the community. Station area plans are prepared with community guidance and technical input and outline plans for the area surrounding the proposed transit stations, about a half mile in any direction, or the distance of a 10 minute walk.
A station area plan does not include rail facilities such as the station platform, and does not address the location or engineering of the LRT line, but it may inform future decision-making on the LRT project.
Instead, station area plans focus on maintaining great neighborhoods and high quality transit-oriented development in the area surrounding the station.
Station area plans help cities and neighborhoods along the LRT route have a dialogue about their needs, desires and concerns regarding how the station area will fit into their community and prepare the community for major transitway investments like Bottineau LRT.
Learn more about Bottineau station area planning.
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